The Bats and The Hedgehogs
by ShadowBlueDratini
Summary: Shadow and Rouge have gotten married. 8 months later Rouge finds out that she's pregnant. What will the couple do now? What will become of the baby? How will they adjust to this new situation? Shadouge
1. Chapter 1

-"Do you Shadow, take Rouge to be your lawfully wedded wife?" "I do." "And do you Rouge, do you take Shadow as your lawfully wedded husband?" "I do."…."You may kiss the bride"-

"The wedding was…Okay at best. Lots of people came and congratulated us on our marriage. They brought gifts and there was no fighting to get into the chapel. There was a lot of food and different kinds of things at the reception. The Blue Hedgehog proposed a toast for Rouge and I to have many wonderful years together. Amy was the flower girl, Sonic was the Best Man without my approval, and he just appointed himself. He almost dropped the rings. He even poured ice down the back of my tuxedo at the reception as a "joke". I Chaos Speared him into the ice sculpture and it fell and shattered, flinging shards of ice everywhere. No one got terribly injured but… that kind of…Ended the reception. I'm still trying to apologize for that. Everybody just won't let it go will they? That was 8 months ago! Can't they move on with their pathetic lives?"

"Shadow are you talking to yourself in the mirror again?"

Rouge stood in the doorway of the bathroom with her sleepwear on and looked at Shadow.

"Shadow I have to brush my teeth, go do that somewhere else.

Shadow looked at her and walked out into the bedroom. He looked out into the clear night sky. "Night..I love it..So quiet." Shadow watched the trees blow in the wind. He had almost fallen asleep when Rouge finished brushing and sat down next to him. Shadow leaned on her shoulder and yawned.

"Usually you're not this tired at night." Rouge said as she put her hand on Shadow's check.

Shadow pushed her hand off. "I had a long day at work. You should know." Rouge frowned and scooted away. Shadow lay down on the cold sheets and turned over.

"Shadow its 9:00 but if you're really tired..Get some sleep." Rouge pulled the other sheet and blankets over Shadow and turned off the light.

The next morning Shadow woke up to find rouge hugging his arm in her sleep. Shadow laid there and moved his arm enough to get her to let go. When she finally let go he sat up and got up. Shadow walked into the bathroom and splashed his face with water and brushed his teeth.

"Morning."

Shadow looked in the mirror and saw Rouge behind him.

"Rouge I tried not to wake you but you were hugging my arm."

Rouge picked up her hairbrush and began brushing her hair.

"I was awake, you just didn't notice."

"Then why did you not open your eyes?"

Shadow wiped his mouth and turned to Rouge. Rouge hugged him and played with his ear.

"Because I wanted to see how hard you would try to shake me off."

Shadow sighed and hugged Rouge back. Still the same old Rouge from years ago. He liked it. They stood there for a moment until Shadow brought his arms down.

"Rouge I need to take a shower."

Rouge stopped hugging him and let Shadow turn on the water and step into the shower. Shadow had just begun washing his hair/quills when Rouge stepped into the shower.

"Rouge this is not the time-" He got cut off

"Shadow it's not that…"


	2. Chapter 2

Shadow shifted in place and looked at her.

"Then what is it?" He asked.

Rouge stared at him for a moment and looked away.

"What is it?" Shadow asked her again.

Rouge stepped back out of the shower and dried herself off.

"What?" Shadow asked. "Tell me what's wrong."

Shadow washed himself, rinsed and got out of the shower with a towel. He dried himself and put his socks on.

Rouge sighed and turned to him.

"Shadow I, I think I'm pregnant. I felt nauseous this morning and I've been throwing up."

Shadow fluffed his chest fur and coughed.

"Wh-what? Hmph. You can't be pregnant. You can't be. I'm sure of it."

"How do you know? You're not a doctor!"

Rouge pushed Shadow back near the sink and Shadow almost lost his balance. Shadow grabbed Rouge's shoulders and pulled her close.

"Rouge what's wrong with you? Don't yell at me! You're not pregnant. You're just sick okay."

Rouge shook her head from side to side and pushed him away again.

"Shadow I really think I'm pregnant. You have to listen to me!"

Rouge sat down on the toilet seat lid and started to cry. Shadow thought for a second and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Okay, okay. We'll get you to the doctor and find out what's really wrong with you."

"I told you what's wrong with me!"

"I still need proof."

"What kind of proof do you need?!"

Shadow shook and closed his eyes.

"Rouge I don't want to believe that I'm possibly going to be a father."

"So you're afraid?" Rouge looked up at him.

"No. It's just-"

Rouge got up and went to the cabinet and searched through it.

"What are you looking for?" Shadow asked.

Rouge rummaged through the contents of the cabinet and took out a pregnancy tester.

"Since when did we have that?"

Rouge ignored him and got back down.

"Shadow I need you to get out of here for a moment."

Shadow walked out of the bathroom and let Rouge have her private time. He put the T.V. on and started watching a movie for a time when Rouge opened the bathroom door.

"Shadow, come in here."

Shadow got up out of the bed and walked into the bathroom.

"What is it?" He asked.

Rouge held up the pregnancy tester.

"It tested positive."

Shadow's heart skipped a beat. He grabbed the pregnancy tester out of Rouge's hands and looked at it.

"This can't be- We were careful-"

Rouge took the tester out of his hands.

"Not careful enough…." She got up and held Shadow's hand.

"What are we going to do?" Shadow asked.

"We're doing what you said and going to the doctor to find out what we can do about this."


	3. Chapter 3

_**-This chapter has minor alcohol references in it, beware-**_

* * *

Rouge made a call and soon they both were at Rouge's doctor. She and Shadow sat in the waiting room. Rouge laid her head on Shadow's shoulder. The nurse came in.

"Mr. and Mrs. Robotnik? Dr. Schultz will see you now."

Rouge and Shadow got up and followed the nurse down the hall to Rouge's doctor's room. Shadow looked around the room. It felt so cold. Soon Dr. Schultz walked in and greeted them.

"Hello Rouge, Shadow. I haven't seen you in a long time. Now let's see I haven't seen you since…last August."

Rouge sat down in one of the chairs in the room.

"Dr. Schultz…I'm pregnant, the test was positive and we just don't know what to do."

Dr. Schultz turned around to face them.

"I see. I'm going to have to ask you some questions."

-15 minutes later-

"We'll come back if we need anything." Rouge said as she walked out of the doctor's office with Shadow beside her.

Shadow chaos controlled them both back to the house and set Rouge down on her feet.

"Shadow I know this is hard for you but-"

Shadow walked into the kitchen and took out a beer from the refrigerator, popped it open and drank.

"Shadow are you listening to me? Put that beer down!"

Rouge stomped over to him and snatched the bottle away.

"Shadow this is important! I want to try and make you feel better! I know this is shocking for you; it's shocking for me too. Neither of us was expecting this."

Shadow grabbed for the bottle back.

"Rouge give it back!"

"Not until you listen to me."

"I am listening to you just let me finish that."

"You're upset and scared." Rouge said as she held on, not letting him take the bottle from her.

"I'm not scared! Just give me back my damn Chaos Light!"

"So you're upset?"

"Of course I'm upset! I just got hit hard with life changing news!"

"Drinking won't solve everything!"

"I know!"

Rouge sighed and gave him his Chaos Light back.

"Shadow…It's all right. Don't freak out. We'll both get through this."

Shadow drank the rest and threw the bottle away.

"Rouge I just don't know. What if I let the kid down? I don't want to make promises I can't keep."

Rouge led Shadow to the couch and sat down with him.

"Shadow you're so negative."

"Rouge you've known me for 13 years."

"I know, but Shadow don't worry about that right now. The baby isn't even born yet. We have lots of time to get ready."

Shadow took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Shhhhh…" Rouge shushed him while rubbing his back. "Calm down, it's okay, Shhhhh."

"Don't do that. You know I hate it when you do that…."

Rouge looked at him.

"Shhhhhh…"


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Shadow and Rouge slept in till noon. Rouge was hugging Shadow's shoulders while his face was in her hair.

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!"

The alarm clock had been going off since 6 in the morning. Shadow stirred first, spitting out strands of white hair as he awoke. He blinked slowly and yawned. Shadow looked at Rouge and almost fell back asleep.

"Shadow…" Rouge said sleepily. "Don't eat my hair…"

"I wasn't trying to." He yawned again. "What time is it?"

"The clock is on your side of the bed."

Shadow turned over facing the outside of the bed and shut the alarm off.

"It's…..Oh my God."

Shadow quickly got out of bed and got dressed.

"Rouge we're late for work! It's noon!"

Rouge got out of bed and quickly got her day clothes on and they both rushed out of the house.

"Why didn't you hear the alarm clock?!"

Shadow looked up at her while running across the streets.

"I don't know! I was in too deep in a state of sleep!"

"You were trying to eat my hair!"

Shadow ignored her and rushed into the G.U.N. building. Rouge flew in through one of the open windows and landed on her feet.

"Commander! I know that we're about 5 hours late but we had a good reason for it."

The G.U.N. Commander looked at them.

"It better be a good reason because showing up this late is unacceptable."

Shadow stood beside Rouge, thinking about whether to tell him or not. They just found out yesterday and they were both very tired afterwards.

"It was for personal matters" Rouge answered.

The Commander rubbed his temples.

"..I'll let you off this time. Just don't let it happen again without calling in first. You're lucky we didn't absolutely need you two this morning. You know that your job is VERY important not only to you, but to the entire nation. Do you understand?"

Rouge and Shadow nodded.

The Commander stood up.

"Good, we did find some suspicious documents yesterday and we would like you to look over them."

He pushed the envelope with the documents inside towards them.

"I want these deciphered by the end of your shift."

"Aye Aye!" Rouge saluted while Shadow just folded his arms.

The Commander sent them off to their workplace and Shadow and Rouge both sat down at the desks and opened the envelope. There were pictures, notes and profiles inside.

"Shadow after work…Should we tell?" Rouge asked as she examined the photos.

Shadow was looking at the profiles.

"Rouge not yet it's too early. We just found out yesterday."

Rouge continued looking through the documents for the rest of the shift. The clock on the wall struck 9.

"Rouge it's time to go home." Shadow said as he organized papers.

Rouge got up and pushed in her chair. She stretched and walked toward the door.

"Don't forget to give those documents to the Commander Shadow."

"I got it."

Shadow gave the documents to the Commander and they both told him what they had found.

Later Shadow and Rouge had gotten home and eaten. They both stayed up to watch TV and eventually fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

The following months for Shadow and Rouge were relatively normal save for Rouge's attitude change and cravings. Her baby bump was starting to show and it had been harder to hide the fact that she was pregnant. Shadow had tried using the excuse that she was getting fat but he received a hard slap to the face every time he did.

"Ow! I'm just trying to cover it up." Shadow said while rubbing the spot where Rouge's hand made contact with his skin. "Stop slapping me. It hurts."

Rouge gave him a look and grabbed his ear.

"Don't you EVER call me fat again. I think that it is a good time for us to tell Sonic and the others so they know what is really going on and that I'm not just getting fat for no reason."

"Okay, okay I'll stop. Let go of my ear."

Rouge let go of Shadow's ear and looked at herself in the mirror.

"It's there. You still look fine Rouge"

Shadow stood behind her.

"Shadow I think it's time to find out the baby's sex."

Shadow walked up behind her and hugged her.

"Yeah, I hope it's a boy."

"There's nothing wrong with it being a girl."

"Yes but…I've still got my fingers crossed for male."

Rouge laughed.

"Whatever it is I'll still be happy, and you should too Mr. Sour Puss."

Shadow put his hands on Rouge's belly and whispered.

"Please be a boy."

"Shadow let the baby be whatever it wants to be."

* * *

Later Shadow and Rouge were walking down the street when Sonic ran up to them

"Hey you guys, what's up?"

Sonic stretched out his legs and cracked his knuckles.

Shadow quietly hissed and Rouge looked at Sonic's smiling face.

"Sonic, there's something that Shadow has been lying to you and the others about."

"That you've started letting yourself go?" Sonic asked.

Rouge shot a glare at Shadow.

"Yeah, that. The truth is that… I'm pregnant."

Sonic's eyes widened and he stepped back.

"Oh so that's it. Were you trying to?"

Rouge blushed.

"No, but It still happened."

Sonic nodded and looked towards Shadow.

"So Shadow what is your opinion on this situation? Because I would never-"

Shadow hissed louder.

"Jeez, are you a snake or something? Use your words like a big boy."

Sonic kept looking back behind him while jogging in place.

"I'm waiting."

Shadow cleared his throat.

"Okay, I am not thrilled about this BUT I am more open than I first found out. I will take this as a challenge. There, that is my take on this matter."

Sonic stopped jogging in place and put his hand on Shadow's shoulder.

"Good luck buddy."

Sonic ran off.

"Don't you dare tell anyone else yet!" Shadow yelled as Sonic disappeared.

Shadow slumped his shoulders.

"He's going to tell everybody…"


	6. Chapter 6

Shadow ran after Sonic to stop him. Sonic ran through bushes and over benches till he found Amy, Cream and Tails at the park.

"Guys I have something to tell you!"

Tails looked up from working on the Tornado and Amy and Cream paused their conversation.

"What is it Sonic?" Tails and Amy asked.

Sonic had a grin on his face and leaned on the tree beside him.

"You know how Rouge has been lately? Well It turns out Shadow has been lying about what is going on. The truth is- MMPH!"

Shadow tackled Sonic and wrapped his arm around Sonic's head to where his mouth was being blocked by his forearm. Amy stood up and got her hammer out.

"Shadow let him go." Amy said with her teeth clenched and gripping the Piko Piko hammer handle.

"Shadow let him go, he didn't do anything to you!" Tails shouted.

Sonic managed to move Shadow's arm.

"Rouge is pregnant!"

Shadow moved his arm back over Sonic's mouth and growled at him but realized there was nothing he could do to hide the secret anymore and let Sonic go.

"Dude, you really need to shave your arms."

Sonic was removing black hair from his mouth and Amy made her hammer disappear. Shadow sighed and quickly got Rouge.

"They know, Loudmouth the Hedgehog told them…"

"Shadow its okay that they know now. I was going to tell them anyway. "

Rouge wiped the grass off of Shadow and put her hand on her hip.

"Well now you know about the baby."

Amy smiled.

"That's great. Do you know what it is yet?"

Rouge placed a hand on her belly.

"That is what we're going to do soon."

Shadow stood under the tree with his arms folded.

"We could help you guys." Sonic offered.

Shadow coughed.

"Sonic, we don't need your help. We can do this on our own."

"Are you sure? Because we could do some good for both of you, or all 3 of you once the kid is born."

"Yes Sonic." Shadow was beginning to get irritated at the blue hedgehog. Couldn't he accept the declined offer without adding extra?

Sonic frowned.

"Okay, you both just lost out on free help. Good luck with handling all of this by yourselves. We won't help you when you really need it. No babysitters. No helping with the baby shower, no free supplies and clothes…"

"Will you SHUT UP!" Shadow grit his teeth. "I said we don't need any help."

Sonic smirked.

Rouge caught Shadow by the ear and dragged him away and she came back by herself.

"…You can help us, don't listen to him, he's just being his lonely grouch self."

Sonic smiled again.

"Okay lady, we'll help. Just make sure your husband doesn't throw a fit."

Rouge slightly nodded.

"So when are you gonna have the baby shower?" Sonic asked.

"In a couple of months." Rouge answered. "I'll tell you when you can come help with it."

Sonic nodded and went to the others to organize things.

"Okay you just call us if you need help with anything!" Sonic said as he went off with the others to the ice cream parlor because Amy wanted her favorite ice cream and he had promised her that they would go.

Rouge went back to where she had told Shadow to stay and got him.

"Come on. It's our day off, let's do something fun."


	7. Chapter 7

Shadow rubbed his forehead.

"Rouge I don't want all this attention towards the baby right now. I want to figure all this out on my own okay."

Rouge punched him in the arm playfully.

"Shadow I know you like to work alone but sometimes you will need help. Now come on as I said: "Let's go do something fun on our day off"

Sonic ran back to Amy, Cream and Tails.

"Guys we have to help them out."

"But he said that they didn't need any help. Who was that man anyway?" Cream asked.

"That's Shadow." Sonic answered. "He's not really that friendly, likes to keep to himself and has a massive ego. He helped me save the world a few times though, he's not really that bad...Except for his explosive anger issues, also he has a trigger word so unless want him freaking out and crying don't say it."

"What's the word Mr. Sonic?" Cream asked

Sonic sighed. "It's…Maria, his dead friend."

Cream nodded and Cheese landed on the top of her head and nuzzled her.

"He sounded upset."

Sonic nodded.

"He's always upset about something, and he'll be more upset once the kid comes and he doesn't know what to do."

Sonic scratched his arm.

"Of course I don't know how to take care of a baby either."

Amy popped up in front of him.

"I do! I've been planning for our future!"

Sonic hung his head.

"Not this again."

* * *

Rouge grabbed Shadow and was leading him down the street.

"I know just the place. Come on."

Shadow kept pace with her as they went down the street. He wondered where she could be talking him that would qualify as fun for the both of them. Rouge stopped in front of an Olive Garden and looked at him.

Shadow shook his head.

"Rouge, I don't think that-"

"Come on. This place has good food. I promise it won't hurt your wallet or your stomach."

Rouge led Shadow inside and the hostess greeted them and got them settled in a booth. She gave them both a menu.

"Welcome to Olive Garden I'll be your waitress. "What would you like to drink?"

"I'll have iced tea." Rouge answered.

"I'll have water…"

Shadow glanced down at his menu. It was the Children's Menu.

"Rouge, stop telling places to give me the kid's menu. I can eat more than you think."

"Shadow you know you'll order something that's way too big and not eat it. I'm just saving money and food." Rouge flipped through the entrees. "Now pick your combination. It isn't that bad."

Rouge gently grabbed Shadow's hand.

Shadows ears drooped.

"This is degrading."

Rouge smirked.

"Shadow this is nothing compared to other things that I've seen you do."

Shadow's eyes went wide.

"No!"

Rouge laughed.

"Shadow it's no big deal. I won't tell anyone."

"You better not." Shadow said with a glare.

Rouge poked Shadow's cheeks. "Just pick what you want before the waitress comes back."

Shadow hissed and pouted.

"Stop being a baby."

Rouge took the menu from him and ordered for the both of them when the waitress came by and gave them their drinks and some breadsticks. Shadow slumped in his seat. After the waitress left Shadow sat back up.

"Rouge, why do you insist on embarrassing me?"

Rouge took a sip of her tea and smiled.

"Shadow, I'm not trying to embarrass you. You're just embarrassing yourself."

Shadow pounded the table with his fist.

"Rouge just stop."

Rouge's smile faded.

"Shadow, you take everything so seriously, I'm really not doing anything to you. You're just overreacting."

Shadow turned away.

"Shadow…* Rouge sighed. "Okay, I'll stop talking. Once you get an idea in your head it can't easily be changed. Look here's our food. Stop pouting."

The waitress came with the food, set it down in front of them and left. Rouge poked her fork into her pasta and twirled it around while Shadow just stared at his Alfredo noodles. Rouge sighed and in between bites she decided that she would try to at least get him to eat a little by trying to feed him. Shadow ate some but then he stopped.

"Ma'am can we get a to-go box?" Rouge asked the waitress when she came to take the plates and leave the bill.

"Of course." Replied the waitress and she went to go get the box.

"I'll pay…"

Rouge looked at the bill, signed the receipt and inserted her card. The waitress came by and left the to-go box and took the bill. Rouge slid what was left of Shadow's meal into the box and closed it. She looked at him and sighed. When the waitress came back Rouge took her card back. She grabbed Shadow and went out the front doors.

"Shadow don't you ever do that again. That was embarrassing to the both of us. Today was supposed to be fun."

"Rouge, if you're going to treat me like a child I'm going to act like one. Plus the day isn't over yet."

Rouge closed her eyes and breathed out.

"You're right, there's still time, but please act like an adult this time. Please."

Shadow smirked.

"It depends."


	8. Chapter 8

**-Sorry this chapter is a bit short. This was just to see the rest of Shadow and Rouge's day off and I didn't have many ideas on places they could go that would fit them.-**

* * *

Rouge walked up to the entrance of the Mall with Shadow, dragging his feet behind her.

"Rouge, I just want to go home now." Shadow mumbled.

"Shadow, what did I tell you? Behave. The Mall isn't bad. Quit pouting."

Shadow sat down on a bench and yawned. Rouge put her hand on her hip and looked at him.

"Shadow are you tired already? You can't be, we've only been out for a few hours."

Rouge picked him up off the bench and stood him up on his feet.

"Shadow don't do this again. You promised me. No more acting like a little child. You're a grown married man."

Shadow flopped back onto the bench.

"I didn't promise you that. I said it depends on what you do to me and right now you're almost doing it again. I'm just tired, nothing else."

Rouge sighed. "You hardly did anything today. You could just sleep on a bench…Fine, we'll go home so you can take a nap or whatever. Let's go."

Rouge pulled Shadow up.

"Wait, there is 1 place that I want to check out first. We'll go home afterwards I promise."

Rouge walked in the direction of the nearest Kiko's.

"Rouge don't you think you should be looking for maternity clothes since you're…?" Shadow asked.

Rouge shot him a glare.

"Not yet."

Rouge walked into Kiko's, the manager of that particular store greeted her from behind the checkout counter.

"Hello" said the female cat. "Feel free to look around the store; we'll help you if you need anything."

Rouge nodded and went over to the racks that had some of the summer clothes on it. Shadow followed her.

"Shadow look over there by the jewelry; there are chairs there, go sit." Rouge told him when she felt his chest on her back.

Shadow backed off and walked over to the chair on the left side of the jewelry display and plopped down in it. Rouge picked out a shirt and a skirt out of the racks.

"Rouge is that really something you'd wear?"

"Shadow go to sleep. You said you were tired earlier."

"You told me that we would go home."

"I said we would go home after this 1 store. Look I didn't bring your special thing you sleep with but just sleep and we'll be out fast."

Rouge hung the clothes over her arm and walked toward the changing rooms while Shadow drifted off.

"Shadow, how do I look?"

Rouge came out of the changing rooms in the clothes that she picked out. Shadow was snoring and had drool dribbling down his chin.

"Shadow wake up!"

Rouge tapped Shadow on the shoulder and closed his jaw. Shadow stirred and blinked.

"Yes dear?"

"Do I look nice?" Rouge asked.

"Oh yeah, y-you look nice." Shadow yawned. "Com'on let's go, I'm done here, I need my thing."

Rouge huffed and went back into the changing room to change back into her regular clothes. She put the clothes back on their hangers. Shadow got up from the chair and gave a victorious smirk.

"Bye, " One of the salesladies called after them as Rouge and Shadow went out the doors of the store. Shadow walked with his head hung.

"There was nothing in there that is of my interest." Shadow said while keeping his smirk.

"You could have been a little more thoughtful."

Rouge flapped her wings and flew up into the air while holding Shadow in her arms to let him sleep just in case he drifted off.

Once Rouge flew home she laid the sleeping Shadow down on their bed, covered him up and gave him his Maria doll. She sighed and looked at him.

"I swear it's like I already have a baby in the house. Why are you acting like this, maybe a defense mechanism or something? You've never acted like this before."

She got into bed next to him and closed her eyes.

"He just has to get past this. It'll be okay."

* * *

**-Shadow is really still not comfortable with all of this is he? I promise the next chapter will be longer.-**


	9. Chapter 9

Rouge hugged Shadow gently, Shadow's breath warm and calm on her face. He whimpered in his sleep when she touched his face with her cold fingers. Rouge got up and entered the den to read her book.

Soon Shadow had woken up. He stretched and walked into the den.

"Rouge I think I'm okay now."

"After a nap, yes I think you're better. Someone was just tired." Rouge answered from behind her book.

Shadow walked into the kitchen and grabbed the jug of orange juice out of the refrigerator. He opened the top and drank from it.

"Don't lip it! I drink that too!" Rouge exclaimed.

Shadow mumbled and put the jug back. He grabbed a muffin out of its plastic package and took a bite from it.

"You know at least it isn't alcohol. Would you rather me get drunk or get my daily dose of Vitamin C?" Shadow said bitterly with muffin in his mouth and rubbing his eyes.

Rouge frowned at his change in tone.

"Shadow what is wrong with you today? First you pout and refuse to eat your lunch, and then you complain and rush me out of the store and now this. Are you trying to protest the baby or something? You told Sonic that you were open to this."

"I am open but still worried; YOU just forgot not to treat me like a child."

Rouge put her book down.

"Shadow you're crazy. The only thing I did today was order you some food, and I'm sorry if it wasn't what you wanted. Can you please just drop it? This doesn't warrant you going on and on about a little moment in your life that you won't even remember come next week. Also don't forget we're finding out the baby's sex on Friday. I made an appointment." She said as she lay back in her chair. She rubbed her belly "We have to find out what this little one is."

Shadow swallowed the last bite of his muffin.

"I say a boy would still be nice."

Rouge looked at him and smiled. Shadow turned on the TV and bit into an orange

"Oh you." Rouge poked him in the shoulder.

Shadow chewed and swallowed his orange slice and started eating another one when Rouge hugged him from behind. Shadow almost choked on it.

"Rouge, you seem more lovey-dovey now. I'm worried."

"What's wrong with loving my darling husband huh?"

Rouge hugged him tighter and Shadow was forced to spit out the orange slice.

"Rouge I need air." Shadow choked.

Rouge nuzzled him and didn't let up.

"Rouge, *Gak*- I know you want something. What is it? Just stop squeezing me."

Rouge kept her hold.

"What are you talking about?"

"I know you only do this when you want something. What do you want?"

"Well, you got it half right but I do feel nicer even though your behavior today was less than what I would have desired."

Shadow made her release from her bear hug.

"Don't start guilt tripping me into buying you something expensive Rouge."

Rouge traced a heart in Shadow's chest fur.

"Rouge no, not now. I don't think you're in the right state to do that."

Rouge's ears perked.

"What? Oh you thought… You have a dirty mind you naughty boy. No, I just want this piece of jewelry that I saw at Kay Jewelers"

Shadow sighed.

"Of course. How much is it?"

"…"

"I won't like it will I?"

"No."

"When did you see this? We didn't go there yesterday."

"Window shopping."

Shadow facepalmed.

"If I do this will you forgive me?"

Rouge examined her nails.

"Yes…No… Maybe."

Shadow sighed and sat down in his chair.

"Ok maybe… Hey, are you cooking tonight or me?"

"You're cooking tonight." Rouge answered.

Shadow picked up the phone and dialed the local Pizza Hut's number.

"Shadow, that's not cooking."

"Sure it is; someone has to make the pizza. I'll pay so that means I made the pizza."

"That doesn't even make sense."

Shadow quieted Rouge while he placed the order through the phone.

"Okay that's 1 cheese stuffed crust bacon cheese pizza and 1 small cheese. Breadsticks with- No! Cheese sticks with marinara." Shadow ordered while the Pizza Hut employee on the other side of the line wrote the order down and repeated it back to make sure he got everything correct.

Shadow nodded when he got everything right and told him the wait time and he hung up the phone.

"Alright, there."

Rouge looked at him.

"I'm not eating that. I'm already gaining weight; I don't need any more greasy food helping me gain any more."

"Okay then, eat a salad or something. I'm eating pizza and cheese sticks."

Soon the pizza man came to the door and Shadow paid and got his pizza while Rouge made herself a green salad. Shadow sat at the table and got himself what he wanted out of the boxes and ate what he could before he boxed what was left up and put it in the refrigerator.

"I think I'll stay up a little longer." Shadow said while yawning.

Soon after he said that he could be heard snoring. Rouge rolled her eyes and took a shower before climbing into bed at 10:30 P.M. Shadow stayed in his chair until the birds started chirping at sunrise.


	10. Chapter 10

The next few days leading up to Friday were not very eventful. Same old work, same old life. On Friday, Sonic and the others were already planning the baby shower even though either of the soon-to-be parents had said anything to them. They all gathered at Tails' house in Emerald Town under Sonic's order. Tails fixed some refreshments and put them on the round table in the middle of the kitchen; people were regularly taking.

"Okay guys, how are we going to do this?" Sonic asked.

"This was your idea and you're telling me that you don't have a clue of what your idea will start with?" Knuckles questioned the blue hedgehog with his arms crossed.

"Well I don't really know how baby showers are supposed to go; I've only been to one on my life when I was 3 and that I barely remember."

Amy walked over from Tails' den.

"Don't worry Sonic; I have a pretty good idea of what this is supposed to be like."

"You do?" Sonic asked.

"Of course; I've helped with family ones before." Amy answered.

Sonic looked at her with distrust.

"This isn't just another one of your plans to try and hook up with me is it?"

Amy had a hurt look on her face.

"Just because I want to help doesn't always mean I'm up to something like that; so no."

Sonic sighed.

"Oh well, okay you can be Second in Command shower planner. I am captain of the Shower Committee."

Sonic got out a piece of paper and handed it to Amy.

"Write some of the stuff we need and how to do it please." He asked.

Amy took the piece of paper and brought out a pen. She started writing requirements that she knew had to be there while Sonic looked over her shoulder.

"Wow that's a lot Amy." Sonic commented.

"No it's not. This is a special party for Shadow and Rouge. We need to make it good." Amy said while writing more things down.

Tails sat on the couch with Cream and played a video game with her. Cream was having a hard time with Super Smash Brothers 4 and kept losing to Tails.

"Mr. Tails can we please play another game? I'm not comfortable with this one." Cream asked.

"Well…Can we have just one more match?" Tails asked.

"Well, I suppose so if this is the last one." Cream answered.

They started the match with Tails as Fox McCloud and Cream as Shulk.

Soon after the match ended Cream's spirits were up; she had beat Tails and was hugging Cheese. Tails sighed and turned off the Wii U.

"You won. Great match anyway"

Cream continued dancing around with Cheese while Tails pulled up a chair and sat down and craned his neck over to where he could see and hear what Sonic and Amy were doing.

"So we need the food, balloons, streamers, cake too, all in cute pastel colors. Oh this is going to be so adorable." Amy listed.

"Wow you weren't kidding. So all we have to do is buy presents while you take care of everything else?" Sonic asked.

"Everyone is helping out with everything. There aren't many of us you know."

Sonic nodded. "But maybe we should wait till we know whether the baby is male or female before we start buying presents."

"Yeah, that would be a really good idea." Amy smiled at him.

Knuckles turned from looking out the window.

"Sonic, I know you like helping people but this is Shadow. He has NEVER been nice to you. What gives you the reason to want to help him? I don't get it."

Sonic turned to Knuckles.

"I could tell he needed a lot of help and I know how he is. I'm just a nice guy, you know…Also I really like cake."

Knuckles shook his head.

* * *

Rouge was lying in bed beside her husband.

"Shadow, its 9:30 the appointment is at 11:00, I think we should get up."

Rouge sat up slowly and brought Shadow with her. She went to the bathroom while Shadow made breakfast for the both of them. Rouge got dressed in comfortable clothing, brushed her hair and got ready. Soon she appeared in the hallway.

"Breakfast is ready." Shadow said while putting a plate of scrambled eggs and toast with orange slices on the table. He placed a glass of orange juice beside the plate for Rouge and headed off towards their bedroom.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Rouge asked.

Shadow looked back at her over his shoulder.

"I'm going to get ready myself first before I eat."

"Can't you do that after you eat? I want to eat breakfast with you for once."

Shadow turned around and headed back into the kitchen. He made himself some toast and slid the rest of the eggs in the skillet onto his plate and added a Halo on the side of his plate. He sat across the small round table from his wife. He stuffed a forkful of eggs in his mouth, chewed and swallowed before speaking.

"So this is the big day. Finally we get to see exactly what the baby is. Are you excited?"

Rouge took a bite of her toast.

"Yeah, I am. This is really special." She smiled and rubbed her stomach. "Well another thing is do you think we'll be able to see how much bat or hedgehog got into it."

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that." Shadow said with a slice of the Halo in his mouth.

"Shadow, can you please swallow before you talk."

"Sorry." Shadow swallowed the food in his mouth.

Rouge soon finished and waited on Shadow to finish eating and get himself dressed and make himself look publically appropriate.

When Shadow had finished they hailed for a taxi since Rouge could not fly and keep her stomach safe at the same time anymore and Shadow moved way too fast sometimes without noticing. They arrived at the doctor's office and signed in. Soon Dr. Schultz took them into one of the rooms and had Rouge lie down on the bed.

"So, we're finally figuring out what this little one is." Dr. Schultz said while rubbing gel on Rouge's stomach. She set up the ultrasound and moved the instrument across it. An image soon popped up of the inside of Rouge's womb.

"Hmm well maybe, if I move it just a little…" She mumbled to herself and a clearer picture came into view of the fetus.

"What is it doctor?" Shadow asked with his arms folded in a comfortable position.

"Well," Dr. Schultz answered. "I don't see anything yet."

The fetus rolled a bit.

"Here we go, okay. Well, it looks like this little one is a female." The doctor declared.

Shadow quietly uttered something that sounded like a curse but soon accepted the news and quieted. Rouge smiled.

"Isn't this wonderful Shadow? We have a little girl." She asked him.

"Yes, it is!"

Shadow hugged Rouge and looked at the picture on the monitor.

"Can you see how much of each of us got in?" Rouge asked.

"I don't see any distinct features yet, she's not letting me see. I'm sorry" Dr. Schultz apologized.

"Oh."

Dr. Schultz then turned the ultrasonic machine off and got Rouge's middle cleaned up. Rouge sat up and thanked her doctor.

"Thank you Dr. Schultz."

"You're welcome, now I have some new things I need you to do now."

* * *

Rouge and Shadow took another taxi home, when the taxi dropped them off they ran into Sonic and Amy.

"Hey guys, what have you been doing lately?" Sonic asked.

Shadow frowned.

"We found out what the baby's sex is today." Rouge answered.

"Ooh, what is it?" Amy asked.

"It's a female."

"Awww, a little girl! That's sweet." Amy stood with one leg up behind her.

Sonic gave Shadow a thumbs up.

"Nice job."

Shadow ignored Sonic's compliment and stood while Amy cooed over how many cute dresses and outfits she could buy for the baby.

"Okay I think that's enough." Shadow interrupted Amy. "My wife is probably oh so very tired. She should probably get home and rest."

Shadow walked Rouge back home while Sonic and Amy watched.

"Well that was rude." Amy commented.

"I know, but at least we know what kinds of stuff to get for the shower now."

Sonic walked down the sidewalk towards Tails' house with Amy following him.


	11. Chapter 11

"Well let's check that off of the checklist." Shadow said as he led Rouge home and sat her and himself down when they walked through the door at home. Shadow watched Rouge cradle her stomach and rested his chin on his fist.

"I know you wanted a boy; you kept telling me over and over, but I can't control that. You know who controls what the baby is? The father does."

"No, I'm fine."

Rouge cupped her hands around Shadow's face.

"What if she's a Daddy's Girl then hm?"

"I'll be glad she likes me then."

Rouge took her hands away from his face and lay back. Shadow still stared at her.

"Hey Shadow; why are you staring at me?" Rouge asked.

She saw his eyes widen in realization and he looked at the ground.

"What is wrong now?" Rouge asked.

"The baby is a girl…" Shadow mumbled.

"And there isn't anything wrong with that."

Shadow shifted his legs.

"There most certainly isn't but…Have you got any name ideas yet?" He asked.

"We'll…No..Not really. I think we should start thinking of some though. Imagine if we didn't have a thought out one when it's time to name her…And no we aren't naming her Maria. You know how you get when anyone says her name."

Shadow closed his mouth.

"We'll think of something." Rouge promised.

Shadow got up and took an orange out of the fruit bowl, peeled it and started munching on it.

"Shadow, don't stress eat. You'll only make yourself feel bad afterwards and you'll get fat if it goes on."

"Ihm nhat strwess eading."

Rouge rolled her eyes at him and yawned. Shadow was kind of right, now that you mention it she was pretty tired. It had only been a few hours but maybe a nap couldn't hurt. She laid her head on the back of her chair and dozed off. Shadow swallowed his slice of orange.

"Well she's asleep maybe now I can finally watch my show without anyone interrupting me."

Shadow grabbed the television remote and switched it on to one of his recorded shows on the DVR.

* * *

Sonic ran back to Tails' house to tell everyone the news.

"Shadow and Rouge's baby is going to be a girl. We just talked to them and they found out today."

Sonic sat down in the wooden chair at the kitchen table and tapped his foot on the ground. Amy brought her hands down on the table.

"Okay this makes things a whole lot easier." She looked around to see that Knuckles had left. "Knuckles…Okay, he'll find out the next time we see him. Anyway Tails, do you have any pastel colored streamers and tablecloths?..."

Amy rambled on about what all they needed to make the baby shower the best it could possibly be while Tails and Sonic drowned in notes.

"I didn't know Amy liked to plan so much." Tails said.

"Yeah, it's a new thing she picked up recently."

Sonic pushed the papers in front of him out of the way and cleared his throat. Amy looked at him.

"Amy, maybe we can pick this back up another time. We have lots of time for this later and Tails is running out of paper."

"Oh, okay. Maybe next week, come on Cream, your mother might be worried about you."

Cream hopped off the couch.

"Yes Ms. Amy."

She helped Amy gather up the papers and clean up and then followed Amy out the door.

"See you guys later!" Amy called back over her shoulder.

"Goodbye!" Cream called.

Sonic nodded and closed the door.

"Please don't let her take this too far." He prayed.

* * *

Rouge woke up later to find Shadow covered in Cheetos and Cheeto dust.

"Shadow; what are you doing."

"…Oh! I'm just watching a show I recorded."

"You're also covered in cheese dust."

"I also wanted to eat Cheetos while doing so."

Rouge sighed and wet a rag with water.

Shadow got up and backed away.

"I can clean my face myself. Do not come near me with that."

Rouge ignored him and started wiping his face and chest clean with the rag.

"Rouge what did I tell you about treating me like a kid?"

Rouge threw the rag in the sink.

"Well you don't seem to care enough about not getting food everywhere."

"I was going to clean up after and disinfect the remote."

"Well I didn't know; you just do whatever you want to around here."

Shadow crossed his arms and began to clean and disinfect everything that he touched including the remote with his "Cheeto hands". Soon everywhere he touched was spotless and shining.

"See?" Shadow showed Rouge the shine.

"Nice, you did well." Rouge complimented.

Shadow looked at the clock.

"I'll start cooking now if you want."

"Real cooking and not pretending you cooked when you just ordered out?"

Shadow smirked.

"Rouge you know I can cook very well. My culinary skills are at a high rank."

Rouge walked over to Shadow and had him place his hand on her belly.

"You'll love Daddy's cooking. Daddy promises." Shadow said while looking at her growing bump.

Rouge laughed.

"What; she will."

How do you know?" Rouge asked.

"Because I am the Ultimate Chef." Shadow answered.

"You just have to be the ultimate in everything. I think that title of yours is going to your noggin." Rouge said while poking Shadows head.

"No it hasn't; but maybe it has. Who knows?" Shadow planted a kiss on Rouge's lips and Rouge kissed back.

"You can start now if you want. I'm guessing it'll take thirty minutes to an hour or so to get everything done and cooled depending on what you're doing." Rouge said after she had pulled away from Shadow's lips.

"Okay." Shadow headed off into the kitchen to start and preheat the oven.

Rouge smiled. Her husband seemed more interested in this whole thing but not that much more. At least she knew he cared even a little.


	12. Chapter 12

Shadow set the oven to preheat and was chopping up extra ingredients to put in with the lasagna. He got put the glass pan and laid out the noodles in it. He poured the sauce into it and spread it and put cheese on top of it. While Shadow was cooking Rouge was in their bathroom taking a bath. While lathering her hair with shampoo she heard Shadow yell and curse.

"Shadow are you okay?" She called from the bathroom.

"I'm okay, I just burnt my hand on the stove, I'll heal." He called back.

"I'm just making sure." Rouge called back.

Shadow nodded as he put the vegetables into a pot on the stove and watched it while sprinkling cheese on the sauce. Shadow was just putting the lasagna in the oven when Rouge was walking out of the bathroom to get dressed in her pajamas. When Rouge had got dressed and brushed her hair when the food was halfway done. She went up to Shadow in the kitchen and caught a whiff of what was being made.

"Shadow what did you make?" She asked. "It smells really good."

Shadow turned around with oven mitts on his hands.

"I made lasagna and vegetables; broccoli, cauliflower and carrots." He answered.

"Great." Rouge let out a soft smile. "It's not really my favorite but it smells appetizing."

Shadow bent over and took the lasagna out of the oven when it beeped. He took it over to the table to join the vegetables at the table. He grabbed the salt and pepper shakers by the stove and brought them over.

"Be careful, the food's really hot." Shadow warned while talking off his oven mitts.

Rouge sat down in a chair at the table and got herself a piece of Shadow's lasagna and vegetables. The food had steam coming out of it so she waited for it to cool off before she took a bite. Shadow sat down across from her and stared at his food for a while before taking a bite.

"So do you like it?" He asked.

Rouge nodded and took another bite.

"I think we should go shopping tomorrow." Rouge said after swallowing her bite of food. "It would be good for us to get the baby's room set up early so that we don't forget. I'm thinking about making the guest room into the nursery. Nobody stays the night anyway. What use do we have for that room besides storing old things in the closet?"

"I use it as a quiet place where I can just think." Shadow replied. "I don't really want to lose it, and what about you antique jewelry? Don't you keep it in there?"

Rouge sighed. "I'll have to move it someplace else then. There are no other rooms that we can change into the baby's nursery. We'll have to put it there and you'll have to find another place to go be by yourself."

Shadow nodded and finished the food on his plate. He waited for Rouge and took both of their plates and silverware to be washed. Rouge got up and helped clear the table. After the plates and silverware had been put in the dishwasher they both plopped on the couch. Shadow turned the lights off and turned on a movie. Rouge laid her head on Shadow's chest.

"Shadow, only a few more months…" Rouge whispered. "You'll be a daddy."

Shadow nodded. The movie started with the company logo. The screen was dark as the opening credits started to roll soon fading out into a shot of trees being rustled by something. Soon they both were quietly watching the movie.

* * *

The next morning Shadow woke up to find himself on the floor of the den. Rouge was in the bed sleeping.

"She pushed me off the couch." Shadow said as he got up and stretched. His joints made a popping sound while he stretched. He rubbed his head and walked into the bedroom and went over to Rouge who was still asleep. He hovered over her and blew air on her face. Rouge didn't respond so he got closer and did it again. Rouge stirred and opened her left eye a bit.

"Yes, what is it?" She asked, still half asleep.

Shadow walked into the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Rouge got up out of the bed and tried to wave away the smell of her husband's breath. Shadow quickly took a morning shower and appeared at the bathroom door before Rouge could fully wake up. Rouge put on some black pants and a shirt.

Shadow got out of the way of the door and went to make himself some breakfast. He opened a Pop Tart box and toasted himself some pop tarts. It was already 10 o'clock in the morning and they had slept in since Shadow had gotten them the day off again. When Rouge emerged from the bedroom again she looked better than she had when Shadow had first seen her that morning.

"It's nice of you to get us the day off. Nice planning ahead." Rouge complimented.

"I'm not like that blue hedgehog who lives for the present and only the present."

"I know Shadzy." Rouge pinched his check.

Shadow rubbed his check where she had pinched him.

"We're leaving at eleven." She told him as she got out her cereal. Rouge sat down beside him.

"I had a dream last night…" Rouge told Shadow her dream while he listened. Soon after they were off to buy things for the soon-to-be nursery.

* * *

When they arrived at a store called Mary's Little Lambs they walked inside to find a number of things needed for babies and soon-to-be parents. Shadow stood in place and looked around while Rouge walked over to an employee to ask about furniture.

The employee showed Rouge the furniture sets for sale and let her look.

"Shadow come over here, I want you to come see the furniture." Rouge called.

Shadow stopped looking at baby clothes and went over to where Rouge was standing.

"Which do you like better this white set or the brown set?" Rouge pointed to 2 different cribs with a dresser, chairs and a changing table, one set was white and one set was chestnut colored.

Shadow looked at the both of them.

"Are there any more?" He asked.

"There is but we currently still have them in the back or they're not in stock right now." The salesperson said while getting out a catalogue to show him pictures of what she was talking about. Shadow looked at the pictures and put his finger on a set that was white with an elegant look to it.

"What about this?" He asked.

Rouge looked at what he was pointing to.

"It is pretty; I like it, what about you?"

Shadow nodded.

"I like it."

Rouge's eye was caught by another set that had a shiny silvery finish to it.

"What about this one?"

Shadow looked over at it.

"Eh, no."

Rouge sighed.

"Okay, we like this one." She pointed to the white one they were looking at before. Shadow nodded in agreement.

"We have that in the back. We can have it shipped to your house if you don't want to carry it home today." The salesperson said as she closed the catalogue.

"No thanks, I think we can handle it." Rouge answered.

The salesperson nodded and proceeded to have what they wanted taken out of the back. Rouge looked around at the room décor that they had for sale. She looked at some bird curtains while Shadow picked up some baby bottles, rags and other supplies. Rouge decided on flower décor. Soon the basket was filled with clothes, supplies and the room decorations. Shadow leaned on the basket as the checkout lady scanned the items plus the furniture. Rouge was in shock when she looked at the total cost but Shadow helped pay. When all the items had been bagged. Shadow took the boxes out and was trying to carry a lot. A neighbor helped them get everything into the house. As the front door closed Shadow and Rouge knew they had work to do.


	13. Chapter 13

Rouge slid down the closed front door. Shadow helped her up off the floor and made sure that she was okay. They both looked at the boxes in the living room. Rouge scratched her head.

"You've got a lot of furniture to move out of the guest room." She told Shadow. "I'll move my jewelry and the small things on top of the furniture if you do that."

Shadow sighed and nodded as Rouge walked into the guest room and started moving candles, photo albums, picture frames and her jewelry out of the way so that Shadow could move the heavy furniture and bed out of the room. After Rouge had moved everything off of the furniture she moved on to clear out the closet that was filled with old clothes; including her white wedding dress that matched her hair.

After Rouge had finished she sat down in a chair in the den with some of the photo albums she had taken out of the room and started looking through them. Shadow was already pulling the furniture out of the room and out of the doorway. After Shadow had finished he sat down to rest for a moment on the couch. Rouge had picked up an old photo album from when Shadow was a child on the Ark. Most of the pictures were taken in black and white or had a sepia tone to them. Most were dated in Gerald or Maria's handwriting. Shadow had found the album and brought it back with him the last time he went up to his former home.

"Shadow you were so cute." Rouge said as she looked and flipped through the pages.

Shadow lifted his head up.

"Rouge you don't have to look at that, it's old and outdated."

"It's a photo album."

"I know but still you don't need to look."

Rouge closed the album.

"Shadow why did you bring this back if you didn't want anyone to look? Look, your baby pictures are cute."

Rouge put the album down on the couch and got up. Shadow got up and started unboxing furniture parts while Rouge got out the room decorations. They were just getting started when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Rouge said as she got up from the couch again.

"No, you sit down. I'll get the door." Shadow said as he put down crib assembly instructions, and went to get the door. When he opened the door he found Sonic and Knuckles.

"What do you two want?" Shadow asked.

"We saw you guys moving furniture boxes inside the house and we thought we could help." Sonic answered.

Shadow poked his head out of the door and looked around.

"You don't even live anywhere near here. Shouldn't you be doing something else?"

"It would be nice for some help Shadow!" Rouge yelled from inside the house.

Shadow narrowed his eyes.

"Your wife wants help Shadow."

Shadow started closing the door but Sonic caught it with his foot before it could close fully.

"We're helping you guys. The wife asked for it."

"Well the husband says no."

"The husband doesn't know what he needs."

"Sonic you and Knuckles can come in. Don't mind him." Rouge called.

Sonic and Knuckles pushed the door open and walked inside the house. Shadow closed the door behind him after they had come in.

"Take a look at the furniture we got since you're here." Shadow mumbled "I was putting the crib together."

Sonic looked inside the big boxes.

"Wow Shadow this is some really nice furniture." Sonic complimented.

"How much did it cost?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow winced.

"Too much." He said.

"You're the one that picked it out." Rouge said as she got up of the couch. "I think it's beautiful. Good job Shadzy." She patted Shadow on the back. "Thanks for the help boys."

"You're welcome. So where should we start?" Sonic asked.

"You could start by moving the dresser and toy box in while I assemble the crib." Shadow said in annoyance.

"Whatever Shadzy says." Sonic mocked as he managed to get the dresser and the toy box out with help from Knuckles. They both moved the dresser into the soon-to-be nursery and around Shadow who was sitting in the floor reading the instructions he had put down earlier with the crib parts all around him.

"Rouge where do you want us to put this?" Sonic grunted as he and knuckles were handling the dresser.

"Put it near the wall on the east side from the door." Rouge answered. "Also put the toy box next to it."

Sonic and Knuckles obeyed her orders and moved the dresser to the location she asked. The room looked bare now that all the other furniture had been taken out and now with only a toy box and dresser in it but they were working hard to fill it with a new life. Shadow was halfway done with putting the crib together when Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge started putting some of the room decorations up. Sonic took out the curtains and slid them onto the curtain rod and then put them up on the window. Knuckles pushed the changing table in and put it next to a table they had brought in earlier. Rouge put out lovely flower decorations and puffy decals on the wall and helped put up wallpaper. Soon the room was brought back to life.

Shadow managed to get the crib together and moved it near a wall. The room was like a garden. Flowers and birds were everywhere. Knuckles looked at it and nodded in approval of the natural look of the room. Sonic smiled at the result of their work.

"It's really nice." He told Rouge.

Just then he noticed some of the flowers.

"These are flowers from Green Hill Zone; I didn't know they sold flower decorations like these. This is cool."

Sonic examined the rest of the room with more interest. Knuckles sat in the rocking chair.

"Hey Rouge, Shadow is asleep over there." Knuckles pointed to the black and red hedgehog snoozing while leaning on the crib. "You want me to move him when we leave here?"

"Yeah, just put him in his chair in the den." Rouge walked out of the room to get dressed in a more comfortable outfit.

Knuckles snickered.

"What?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles quickly got Sonic to get the equipment needed for sleep pranks.

"Which one?" He asked Sonic when everything was there. Shadow had slid down onto the floor and was lying down.

"Do you guys know how mad he'll be if you do that? I wouldn't do that if I were you." Rouge warned from the door.

It'll be fine." Sonic assured.

Suddenly Shadow shot up from the floor. Sonic and Knuckles jumped.

"Get out of my house, NOW!" Shadow demanded.

Sonic and Knuckles got up when Shadow slashed his claws at them and hurried out of the room.

"Rouge, we didn't even get to do the prank. He just yelled at us and tried to scratch us." Sonic said.

"Well, that's what you get for trying to prank him. Thank you for helping though."

"You're welcome." Sonic said as he and Knuckles went out the door.

"Knuckles, I'm beginning to wonder why I'm even helping."

"Your eyes are finally opening Sonic."


	14. Chapter 14

Sonic and Knuckles walked down the sidewalk, swining their arms as they walked.

"I want to help it's just Shadow is being really stubborn. I feel sorry for Rouge."

"Sonic, look at your arm." Knuckles told him.

"What about it?" Sonic looked at his arm. "Ahhh!"

Sonic saw claw marks in his forearm. The cuts were starting to bleed. Sonic cupped his hand over the wound.

"Gah! I didn't know he had got me!" Sonic ran off to treat his arm. Knuckles went the other way off in the direction of where Angel Island was. Sonic wasn't looking where he was going and ran into Amy. Amy stumbled back.

"Sonic watch where you're going!"

Sonic steadied her.

"I'm sorry Amy I just really need to get home to take care of my arm."

"What's wrong with your arm?" Amy asked while carefully taking Sonic's arm.

Sonic flinched.

"Sonic what happened!?" Amy asked in concern as she saw the claw marks in Sonic's arm.

"Knuckles and I helped Shadow and Rouge set up their baby's nursery. Shadow fell asleep afterwards and we wanted to play a prank on him. He woke up before we could do it, yelled and tried to scratch us. He got me. Jeez Shadow's nails are sharp."

Amy let Sonic's arm drop to his side and looked in her pocket for anything to help treat the wound but found nothing.

"I'm sorry I don't have anything to help."

"It's okay Amy I'll find something."

"I hope it doesn't get infected."

"I'll make sure it won't"

Sonic waved goodbye as he ran off. Amy smiled and decided she would pay a visit to Shadow and Rouge just to see how everything was going on. Amy walked further and up the walkway to their front door. She rang the doorbell and waited. She heard muffled talking from inside the house and the doorknob turn. Rouge opened the door a little. Amy could see her turquoise eye look at her. Rouge closed the door, undid the chain lock and opened the door fully. Rouge had her arms folded.

"Um…Hi Rouge. Amy started. "I ran into Sonic and he told me that he and Knuckles helped you two today. Is it okay if I see what they did?"

Rouge sighed.

"Amy, we're really tired."

Amy stepped back.

"Oh…I'm sorry. Also I saw the wound on Sonic's arm. Where is Shadow?"

"Shadow is asleep on the couch right now. I know what he did but Sonic and Knuckles were stupid enough to try pranking him and they got what was coming to them."

Amy glared at Rouge.

"You're excusing his behavior? Did you see the cuts?"

"They know how Shadow is." Rouge answered. "I'm not excusing what he did because what they did was done without thought of the consequences that would follow."

Amy growled.

"I'm sorry Ms. Rose but it was their choice."

Rouge started to close the door but Amy caught it.

"Go get Shadow."

"He's sleeping."

"Wake him up!"

"No!"

The people living around Shadow and Rouge started poking their heads out their windows and front doors to see what was going on.

"Amy look, you're attracting attention and you're embarrassing yourself. Stop it." Rouge warned.

"You're the one who started it!"

"Amy, I already told you to stop it. You are way too old to be acting like this. What if Sonic saw yo-"

Sonic stood in the yard with his arms folded and his arm bandaged up. Amy turned around and gasped.

"Amy, what are you doing?" He asked.

Amy's face turned beet red in embarrassment.

Sonic walked toward the front porch and stopped in front of Amy.

"I…I was…Your arm…I wanted to…"

"My arm is okay now, look."

Sonic showed Amy his bandaged arm.

"But Shadow still hurt you."

"Amy, I've had worse injuries than this. I admit now that what Knuckles and I did was stupid."

The figure on the couch stirred and yawned.

"Shhh." Rouge shushed.

"It's nice that you would want to protect me." Sonic said quietly. "But don't do this. I can handle myself."

Sonic put his hands on Amy's shoulders. Amy started to cry.

"I'm sorry Rouge." Sonic apologized.

"I'll talk to Shadow when he wakes up." Rouge said.

"That's a really good idea. Come on Amy." Sonic walked Amy away from the house and back to Tails' house across town.

The neighbors stood on their porches; still listening to what was going on. Rouge went back into the house and closed the door. She went and sat on the edge of the couch and shook Shadow's shoulder gently. He turned over and wiped his mouth and rubbed his eyes.

"What?" He asked sleepily.

"May I talk to you about what you did to Sonic's arm?" Rouge asked.

"No." Shadow answered. "He got what he had coming to him."

Shadow put the blanket over his head.

"Shadow, Amy was going to come in here and question you."

"And most likely yell at me. Yes I know."

Rouge gave him an annoyed look.

"You want me to go apologize don't you?"

"It will get Amy off your back."

"She loves that blue hedgehog too much."

"Just go!"

Shadow got up off the couch, put his shoes on and headed out to apologize to Amy and Sonic. When he got to Tails' house he wasn't in for a warm welcome. A book hit him in the face as Soon as he was let in.

"Ow!" Shadow held his face.

"I'm sorry Shadow." Sonic apologized. "She's still angry."

Shadow removed his hand from his face.

"I did come here to apologize to you both, but now that I had a book thrown at me I really don't think I want to now."

"Apology accepted. My arm is fine."

"Amy I'm sorry for hurting Sonic." Shadow said loudly.

"Maybe another time when she's calmed down?" Sonic asked.

"Smart idea."

Shadow left Tails' house. When he got back home he went directly to the couch. He buried his face in a pillow.

"So did it work out?" Rouge asked.

"I got a faceful of science fiction." Shadow said through the pillow.

"She threw a book at you? Let me see your face." Rouge managed to get the pillow off of Shadow's face.

"Ouch. Do you want an ice pack for it?"

Shadow's nose started bleeding.

"…And a tissue?" She added.

Shadow nodded.

Rouge got up and brought an ice pack and the tissue box to him.

"Shadow, I'm sorry for the way she acted."

"Sonic forgave me."

"Amy cares for Sonic more than anything."

"I know."

"Maybe you shouldn't have scratched him."

"She was overreacting."

Shadow got up and went to their bedroom. He shut the door behind him and got into bed. Rouge sighed.

* * *

**-I'm sorry but I just have to say this. I'm not having fun writing this story. I'll get it finished but I would have to say that it's my least favorite story to work on.-**


	15. Chapter 15

Amy sat crying on the couch with a blanket around her. Sonic sat down beside her.

"Amy he apologized to us both. Please stop crying. Hey let's talk about the baby shower. It's in a few weeks isn't it? That's what you said."

"Sonic I'm so sorry for throwing a fit, you must hate me now." She sobbed.

"Amy I don't hate you, I'm just disappointed with how you reacted. I told you I was fine."

Amy started crying into Sonic's shoulder. Sonic sighed.

* * *

Rouge sat in the new nursery looking at the baby clothes they had bought.

"These are so adorable."

Shadow walked into the room with a blanket draped on his shoulders like a cape. He looked around at the afternoon's work and yawned.

"I'm about ready for her to come. It's gonna be weird walking in here if there's no baby."

"I can't wait either, not only for her but I don't really like being big like this." Rouge rubbed her stomach.

"You're gonna but off the weight anyway, after you have her and go on Maternity Leave you can go on missions again, or maybe get a gym membership." Shadow sat down on the floor and looked up at his wife.

"You look adorable sitting there with a blanket wrapped around you. I'm sorry I can't sit down with you. I'm afraid I won't get back up."

Shadow got up and helped Rouge out of the rocking chair. Both left the room and closed the door. Shadow sat her down on the couch.

"I'll make some tea."

Shadow went into the kitchen and started to make some herbal tea when he head Rouge cry out in pain.

"Rouge what's wrong?!" Shadow yelled as he quickly rushed into the room. "What is it?"

Rouge had fallen due to her legs locking and now was holding onto the arm of the couch. Shadow helped her up onto the couch again.

"Rouge are you okay?" Shadow asked while looking her over for injuries.

"I just fell, I'm okay, the b-baby's okay." Rouge started to sweat.

Shadow stared at her. "Rouge you can't have the baby right now, it's too early."

"Shadow the b-baby i-isn't coming. My legs just gave out. Go make the tea, I'll be fine." Rouge shooed Shadow away.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I'm sure." She answered.

Shadow made sure once again she was okay and then went to make the tea. His heart was still pounding.

Shadow brought 2 cups of tea to the den. Rouge accepted her cup and took a sip.

"Shadow, I'm thinking about going to do something tomorrow with my friends, so I don't want you worrying about me."

"I didn't know you had many friends besides people at work."

"That's who I'm going with. You go do something with your friends."

"I don't have friends besides you and Omega."

"Well, go do something with Sonic, and all the others."

Shadow gave her an annoyed look and went to go wash his cup.

"I'll make you go." Rouge called from the den.

"I'd much rather do something with you since I actually _like_ you and I don't like them."

"You need some time away from me, you're getting clingy."

"…Fine."

Shadow got on the phone and dialed Tails' phone number. He waited until Tails answered.

"Hello?" Tails asked.

"Rouge is making me do something with you guys tomorrow because she's going with some of her work friends tomorrow to do something."

"Uh, sure, there's a carnival in town."

Shadow covered the receiver.

"Rouge, please."

"Nope."

Sonic grabbed the phone from Tails.

"You can bring your dolly."

Shadow started going red in the face.

"I'm not going to bring her!"

Rouge threw Shadow's Maria doll at him.

"So you'll have someone you like there."

Shadow could hear Sonic snickering on the other end of the line.

"I'll meet you guys at the carnival tomorrow, WITHOUT MY DOLL."

Shadow slammed the phone down. He picked up the Maria doll and brushed the dirt out of her hair.

"Good." Rouge said. "I hope you have a good time."

After that Shadow and Rouge got ready for bed and kissed each other goodnight.

* * *

The next day they both got ready to head out. Rouge was busy putting on makeup when Topaz and her other work friends arrived. Topaz got out of her car, walked to the door and rang the doorbell. Shadow answered the door.

"Is she ready yet?" She asked

"Rouge is finishing her makeup."

As soon as he finished his sentence Rouge popped up at the door.

"Hey Topaz. I'm ready."

Rouge and Topaz walked to the car and they all drove off leaving Shadow alone for an hour until he was supposed to go to the carnival. Shadow got dressed and brushed his teeth.

"Hey Sonic, why is Shadow coming with us?" Knuckles asked as they made their way over to Shadow's house.

"He said Rouge is making him. If he had his way he'd spend all of his social time with her or Omega. He doesn't like us."

Sonic knocked on the door to the house.

"Just a minute!" came Shadow's muffled voice from behind the door.

Shadow appeared outside in a puff of smoke.

"Com'on" He mumbled and teleported everyone to the Station Square Carnival. Knuckles, Tails and Amy all were shaken by being teleported but soon regained balance.

"So what do you guys wanna do?" Sonic asked. "The swings are over there, there's cotton candy over there and the Midway games are over here.

"I'm going to go over to the games." Tails said as he walked in the direction of the games.

"Okay, games are cool." Sonic followed Tails with Amy following behind them. Shadow sat down on a bench. He took out his Maria doll and looked at her. Shadow fell asleep soon enough and was awoken by Sonic's snickering.

"Good morning."

Shadow jumped and hit his head in the back of the bench he was sitting on.

"Ouch! Gah! Is it time to go yet?"

"Looks like someone lied on the phone. Here we got some nachos and ordered an extra one for you when you woke up. They're cold now but still." Sonic handed the cold nachos to Shadow.

"Hey also, do you know how to change diapers? Tails won a stuffed bear and he doesn't want it."

"Yes I do!" Tails shouted from behind Sonic

"No, I was the last born so I never had to."

Sonic threw the bear at Shadow.

"You can practice on that."

"Sonic!" Tails shouted

"You'll win another one!"

Shadow sighed and put his face in his hands.

* * *

Rouge, Topaz and the other girls from work were walking in the outlet mall with smoothies in their hands.

"Thank you girls; I'm having a good time." Rouge said as she sipped her strawberry flavored smoothie.

"You're welcome Rouge." Topaz sipped part of her smoothie. "I still can't believe you're pregnant."

"We weren't really planning on it." Rouge replied.

"It's a shame you can't fit into normal clothes right now. I saw the nicest top and jeans earlier."

Rouge looked at herself and put her smoothie down. "I've got a baby inside of me, I can't help it."

"As soon as you can after the baby comes you should start working on getting your figure back." One of her friends told her.

"I'll try."

"I know a great gym that you can go to." Topaz pulled out a pen and a piece of paper and wrote down an address and phone number.

"If you want to." She handed the slip of paper to Rouge.

"Thanks Topaz, I'll look into it if I need it." Rouge took the paper and put it away.

"Hey, is Shadow still freaky about becoming a father?" Topaz asked. "He looks like something's bugging him more than usual when I see him at work." Topaz asked.

"He's still adjusting." Rouge answered. "But I think he'll be fine.

* * *

Shadow had fallen asleep again after a while.

"Did he sleep last night?" Sonic asked.

Tails shrugged.

The sun was about to set. The group decided to head home after waking Shadow up since they couldn't carry him

"Here he is Rouge" Sonic presented Shadow to his wife. "Safe and sound."

Shadow slapped Sonic's hand off his arm.

"Okay, goodbye then." Sonic moved close to Rouge's ear."All he did was sleep half of the time."

Sonic left out the door.

Rouge looked at Shadow.

"I guess you won't sleep tonight, but since you're up I want to show you some clothes I got at the mall.

"Fascinating…" Shadow said flatly.

"I also found something for you."

Rouge pulled out a light blue strap on baby carrier.

"With this you can carry the baby around with you. You just put on the harness and there's this pocket with 2 leg holes that the baby goes into."

"Cool."

Rouge nodded. "Aren't Sonic and the others going to throw us a baby shower? What happened to that, did they say anything?"

"They didn't, but I'm sure it's going to be soon, it's not that far from the due date now."

* * *

Sonic and Tails made their way to Tails' house and opened the door. Pastel colored balloons and streamers lined the walls and floor while a big banner that read _**IT'S A GIRL!**_ hung from the ceiling.

"Amy you told me that the shower wasn't for a few weeks!" Sonic exclaimed.

Amy popped out from under a pile of streamers.

"I'm still mad at Shadow but that doesn't mean I'll take away their shower. I moved the shower to tomorrow."

Sonic stepped over some decorations on the floor.

"Tomorrow?! But how? we're not even ready, Shadow and Rouge don't know and we haven't got the cake, food, invitations or gifts!"

"All taken care of. I'm going to send a note to get Rouge and Shadow to come, but they won't know why. What did you think I did today and all of the days where I didn't see you?"

"I don't know."

"Well, the shower is tomorrow whether you like it or not, so go to the store in the morning and get some baby gifts. I want this party to be the best!" Amy tossed stray balloons and streamers into the air.


	16. Chapter 16

In the morning Amy had left, leaving Tails' house covered in decorations, It almost made both Sonic and Tails sick to look at how much pastel had taken over the house.

"Why couldn't she have done this somewhere else?" Tails complained as he ate a bowl of cereal.

"All of it will be gone tonight. I know, it bugs me as much as it bugs you." Sonic turned around from the waffle maker and sighed. "We have to get gifts this morning before the cake is delivered."

Tails nodded and got up from the table. He and Sonic cleaned up and went to the local department store to see what they could find.

* * *

Shadow was already up getting dressed when Rouge found a note wedged in their mail slot.

"What's this?" She wondered.

Rouge unfolded the note and read the writing inside.

"Shadow Amy said she's moved the shower to today and she's told everyone else ahead of time."

Shadow looked up from the newspaper and put it down quickly.

"What?" He asked.

"She's moved the shower to today Shadow, we can only have so many days off!"

Rouge picked up the phone and dialed Amy's phone number.

Amy picked up the call.

"Hello."

"Amy, why did you move the shower to today? Shadow and I aren't off from work."

Amy yawned. "It's all fine; I have everything taken care of."

Rouge just stood in silence.

"Everyone whose coming knows, even your boss knows."

"Except us!" Rouge shouted.

"Don't worry I have everything under control. Just come over to Tails' house at 2 o'clock." Amy hung up.

Rouge stood in the kitchen with the phone in her hand. She sat down and put her face in her arms.

"Why?"

Shadow took a drink of his coffee. "We'll go in and make sure everything is actually okay."

"Okay…"

Rouge went into the bedroom to get dressed for work. Shadow stood by the door waiting for her. Rouge walked past him and down the road. She got a taxi and both of them rode to G.U.N. HQ.

Rouge waited outside the Commander's office. When she was let in she gave the Commander a salute.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Did you get any word from a citizen by the name of Amy Rose that you're letting us off?"

"I'm not entirely letting you off." The commander explained. "You're working until 13:00."

"But Commander we've already taken lots of days off. We can't take more."

Shadow walked by the door to hear what was going on. Soon Rouge opened the door, almost hitting Shadow in the face.

"We work until 1 o'clock." She said.

* * *

At 1 o'clock Rouge and Shadow both clocked out and made their way to Tails' house.

"I wonder what she has in store for us." Rouge mumbled. She knocked on the front door and Tails answered.

"You made it!"

Tails invited them in. The den and the kitchen were covered on streamers and balloons that were purple, blue and pink. White tablecloths were set on the tables that were covered in food and presents. The "It's a Girl" banner still hung high on the wall and now sported a pink giraffe papercraft that Cream had made. Shadow suddenly felt queasy.

"You guys certainly decorated a lot…" Rouge commented.

"Yeah, Amy kind of went overboard. She really likes decorating." Sonic said as he strolled over with a chilidog on a plate."Sorry about the date change. We didn't know either until Amy told us too."

Shadow ran to the bathroom while Rouge found Topaz sitting on one of the couches.

"Congrats again on the baby." She looked at Rouge's stomach. "It's gonna be here real soon isn't it?"

"Yeah. Soon Shadow and I'll be parents. I can't really believe it."

Topaz looked over her shoulder.

"Is Shadow out of the bathroom yet?"

"The oversaturation of pastel in the house made him sick to his stomach. He'll be okay soon."

"You're the one who's supposed to be throwing up, not him."

"Oh I have, a lot over the past months, maybe he's also gotten sick because I've been sick so much."

"Do you like the party" Amy's voice came ringing in Rouge's ear. Amy walked around the couch. She was wearing a pink party dress with an awful amount of frilly bows. Rouge stared at the dress and tried not to laugh.

"It's n-nice Amy."

"Did you see the cake yet?" Amy asked.

"No" Rouge answered.

"It's in the dining room."

Shadow emerged from the bathroom and slumped on the couch.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked.

She didn't get an answer.

"Hold on, I'll get you something to settle your stomach." Rouge rubbed Shadow's back and got up to go get some lemon-lime soda. Tails only had one bottle of it left.

"Here Shadow, drink this." She gave him the soda. Shadow opened it and took a swig of it.

Rouge decided to go see the cake. The cake was beautiful, It was 2 layers covered in French butter cream icing and was decorated with jwewls made of icing so perfect that they almost didn't look like they were made of icing.

"This cake is beautiful!" Rouge exclaimed.

"Also a very expensive cake." Sonic added behind her. "Do you know how much this thing cost?"

"I don't think I want to know, but Amy really did go all out with this whole shower." Rouge answered.

"She wanted to say sorry about what she did to Shadow."

"Shadow doesn't remember what she did to him."

"He doesn't?"

"Nope, he has a worse memory than you think he does, plus that book must have done something."

* * *

Later it was time for gifts. Everyone had piled their gifts on top of the coffee table.

"Are you going to show us what you got or are you going to take the presents home and then open them?" Tails asked.

"…Eh… We'll open some here." Rouge decided and picked out a bag. "This is from…Sonic and Tails, a collaboration gift,"

Shadow gave Sonic a "really?" look.

"I didn't have enough money…" Sonic grumbled.

Rouge reached into the bag and pulled out a toy. It was a set of stacking rings that was modeled after Green Hill Zone.

"This is cute, where did you get this?"

"I bought it and then Sonic wanted to change the color." Tails answered.

Rouge handed the stacking rings to Shadow to look at them and reached inside the bag again. This time she pulled out a pair of footie pajamas that looked like Sonic's torso, legs and feet. Sonic smiled.

"Sonic…" Shadow glared at him.

Sonic ran out of the room laughing.

"Uhh…I'll go next."

Topaz lifted a bag from the table and handed it to Rouge. Rouge reached inside the bag and pulled out a purple onsie with a skirt attached to it that has a penguin on it.

"Awww" Rouge cooed while looking at it.

"I'm glad you like it. That was the last one left. There's also some booties in there that match."

"Thanks Topaz."

Rouge set the gift aside.

"We'll open the rest at home later."

Everyone understood and went off to do their own thing.

"So Shadow, is there anything you wanna talk about?" Sonic asked.

"Go away." Shadow growled. "I feel horrible."

"You want anything to eat?" Sonic asked.

"I'm sick to my stomach; do you want me puking on you?"

Sonic shook his head and went back to the food table.

"When's this over?" He asked.

"It's over at 6." Amy answered while cutting herself some cake.

"3 more hours?" Sonic groaned.

* * *

Shadow had run to the bathroom again when Rouge decided it was time to go home.

"This was really nice but I think we'd better go. Shadow's still sick and I don't think it's a good idea for him to still be here."Rouge got up and waited for Shadow to come out of the bathroom.

Everyone gave them goodbyes and wishes for them all to be happy and healthy when Rouge left with Shadow. When they got home Shadow flopped on the bed. Rouge put the gifts in the dining room and went to go check on Shadow to see if he was doing okay.

"Shadow, what made you so sick?" Rouge asked.

"I don't know, the colors, stomach virus, but I'm not supposed to get sick." Shadow answered.

"If it was because of being near me with my morning sickness I'm so sorry."

"No, I'm pretty sure it was the colors. I'll be fine."

* * *

Shadow didn't eat dinner that night and he slept on the floor while Rouge slept in the bed. It was about 25 minutes after midnight when Rouge woke and soon started to panic.

"Shadow, I think the baby's coming!"


	17. Chapter 17

"Shadow wake up!" Rouge reached down and shook Shadow to wake him up.

"What is it Rouge?" Shadow asked tiredly.

"The BABY IS COMING!"

Shadow's eyes widened and he jumped up.

"Do you want me to call an ambulance?!"

Rouge screamed. Shadow looked around and picked Rouge up off the bed. Rouge squeezed Shadow's shoulders, her nails dug into them, making small cuts. Shadow winced and chaos controlled to the local hospital.

"I need a wheelchair please!" Shadow shouted to the reception desk person. The dog quickly nodded and called for a wheelchair to be brought while Shadow checked in.

Soon two nurses came with a wheelchair. The nurses helped Shadow sit Rouge in the wheelchair. Rouge squeezed Shadow's hand.

"It's going to be okay, just calm down." He reassured her.

"Mrs. Robotnik everything is going to be okay." Dr. Schultz appeared from the door in the hallway. "It's a bit early but just trust me." Shadow wheeled Rouge in the direction that he was told and stopped when they were inside a room. The nurses helped get Rouge into the bad and get everything hooked up and monitoring. Rouge was sweating and in pain. Dr. Schultz looked at the monitors and at Rouge.

"We'll need to put her to sleep for the delivery."

One of the nurses nodded and administered the general anesthesia and soon Rouge fell unconscious.

"Shadow we're going to need you to leave. There are chairs outside the room on the right side. This may take a while." Dr. Schultz said while checking to see if Rouge was fully unconscious.

"We need an emergency C-Section STAT."

Shadow left the room and sat in a chair outside the room. There was another man outside across from where he was more than likely in the same situation as him. Shadow worriedly looked through the window on the door. He could see Rouge knocked out and people beginning to cut into her stomach. He looked away. He didn't mind the sight of blood but he just couldn't look now. Shadow fell asleep after a while when he was woken up by a hand placed on his shoulder.

"Your baby girl is here. You can come in and see her but Rouge will have to wait until after she recovers."

Dr. Schultz guided him to a room with an incubator in it. Shadow slowly walked closer to it. Inside there was a small bat with light grey hair hooked up to many cords. The little bat lay asleep as breathing and heart rate monitors steadily beeped.

"She was born at 2:30 this morning. We're doing all we can to make sure she turns out just fine."

Shadow touched the glass. His hand looked massive compared to her tiny ones.

"When Rouge wakes up you both need to decide on a name for her, do you have anything in mind?"

Shadow thought about it.

"I'll wait till Rouge wakes up." He told the doctor.

"Okay, just tell us when you two have a name."

Dr. Schultz went off into another hallway and Shadow walked into the room where Rouge was to see if she was awake. She wasn't. Shadow sat down in a chair next to her bed and waited.

* * *

When Rouge finally opened her eyes the sun was already up. It was almost 11:00.

"Shadow?" she asked groggily.

Shadow turned around and hugged her gently as to not accidentally hurt her.

"Good morning." He told her with a soft smile.

"Shadow, what happened?" Rouge asked.

"You had the baby, you both are fine. Guess what? She's mostly bat." Shadow answered. "Dr. Schultz said they'll bring her in here if they feel that it's safe to."

Later the baby was brought in to them so Rouge could see her. She was wrapped in a pink blanket with a little hat on that matched.

"Shadow she's wonderful" The doctor carefully handed the baby to Rouge. The little grey bat yawned and opened her ruby red eyes. Rouge smiled.

"Awww."

Dr. Schultz smiled.

"Do you have an idea of what you want to name her?"

Shadow nodded. Rouge looked at her husband in suspicion.

"Does it have anything to do with Maria?"

"Well…Sort of. What about Marie? It isn't exactly the same."

Rouge sighed.

"Well it isn't exactly the same and it does sound pretty. Okay. What about Lucille for a middle name?"

"…I like that." Shadow answered.

"You want to name her Marie Lucille?" Dr Schultz asked.

"Yes." Shadow answered.

"Okay, we'll have the birth certificate printed." Dr. Schultz left the room.

Shadow looked at the newborn Marie and a smile appeared on his face. Rouge laid her head on Shadow's shoulder. They were a happy family.


End file.
